State Won’t Reprint Ballots That Bear Kamenetz’s Name
Ballots for the June 26 primary will not be reprinted replacing Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz’s name with Valerie Ervin, an official with the Maryland State Board of Elections said Friday.
“The state administrator [Linda Lamone] determined there is not sufficient time to reprint the ballots in advance of the primary election,” said Donna Duncan, assistant deputy administrator for election policy. “We will be working with local boards of elections to implement appropriate measures to inform voters of the change in candidacy.”
Kamenetz, who was seeking the Democratic nomination for governor, died last week of a heart attack. Ervin, his running mate, took his place at the top of the ticket, she announced Thursday.
A former Montgomery County Council member, Ervin named Marisol Johnson, a former member of the Baltimore County Board of Education, as her running mate.
Duncan said about 8,000 absentee ballots had been sent out. Any vote for Kamenetz will be recorded as a vote for Ervin, she said.
The state board will determine in the next two or three days how voters will be informed about the change in candidacy, Duncan said.
“It may be notice in each of the voting booths, at early voting centers,” she said.
Early voting in Maryland runs from June 14-21. Montgomery County has 11 early voting sites. They can be found here.
Update:
Friday afternoon, Ervin released this statement:
“That is correct — my name will be on the ballot at the very least under the Kamenetz line. That said, we at the Valerie for Maryland Campaign sincerely believe that since the law allows me to run for Governor, we have the right to new ballots. Any champion of Democracy who wants Maryland voters to decide this election should want our Ervin Johnson ticket on the Democratic Primary ballot.”
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